F1: Piastri dismisses championship lead over Norris as being comfortable

F1: Piastri dismisses championship lead over Norris as being comfortable

Current Formula 1 championship leader Oscar Piastri does not believe he has a comfortable lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the standings, Afrosport reports.

The Australian won the Dutch Grand Prix last time out to open a 34-point lead over Norris who suffered a DNF from second place.

It has led to suggestions that the championship is now firmly in Piastri’s favour with nine races left, but the 24-year-old is not holding that thought.

“The gap is bigger now but it’s still far from being comfortable and being able to change the way I go about things. So it will stay the same way,” he said ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

He added: “It should be quite straightforward. Me and the engineers are trying to get the most out of the car, the most out of myself and that doesn’t change whether you are first or last.

“You are always trying to get the best out of yourself, certainly in terms of car set-up, you are not going to make the car any slower. For me that’s not going to change. Even the approach to risk won’t change.

“I would still like to extend it even more because there’s still a long way to go and a bigger lead is always a bigger thing.”

Meanwhile, Norris said he will not rely on luck in his bid to overturn his deficit to Piastri in the title race.

“I don’t look into luck and all these things,” the British driver stated.“There’s no point. I don’t want to be wasting my time on hoping for it or praying for it.

“I was unlucky last weekend and that’s life. It happens. It might get to the end of the year and nothing else happens.

“If I lose the championship by the amount of points that I lost at the weekend [Zandvoort] then that’s tough, that’s life andI will move on. I will come back again next year and try to do better.

“I don’t wish for bad luck for anyone else. I was unlucky that weekend and this weekend I need to try to do better. I don’t believe in those kinds of things.”


McLaren have won 12 out of 15 F1 races this year with Piastri taking seven victories and Norris five.

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